Former mayor urges MCC to probe recent seizure of used cooking oil, disclose finding

MIRI: Former mayor Datuk Lawrence Lai is calling on Miri City Council (MCC) to investigate the recent seizure of over 2,000kg of subsidised cooking oil at a used cooking oil collection centre and make their finding public.

Lai told a press conference here yesterday that MCC owed it to the public to get to the bottom of the matter as it involves public health.

“On that day (during the raid), consumers did a good job, caught the perpetrators red handed with over 2,000 litres of subsidised cooking oil. How long has this been going on? What has he (contractor) done with the used cooking oil?

“I am not a medical expert, but my friends (with medical background) said if they mixed the cooking oil (new or used) with other substances, it may cause cancer,” he said.

Lai said the city council must investigate whether the used cooking oil was mixed with other substances and repackaged before being sold back to the consumers.

He said the MCC was the authority that issued licence to the contractors to collect used cooking oil here.

He said the idea of collecting used cooking oil was mooted during his time to prevent coffee shop operators, restaurant owners or hawkers from throwing away their used cooking into drains which would lead to drain blockage.

“During my time as mayor, we recorded the amount of used cooking oil collected and what was done with it,” he said.

The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs here seized 2,112kg of subsidised cooking oil at a factory in Senadin on July 4, following a tip-off and surveillance.